The Poetry of Learning Summary by aloveoflearning

The Poetry of Learning A Collaborative Research Framework / Executive Summary Aaron Stern, Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D., Robin I. Goldman, Ph.D., and Marianne Murray, Ph.D.

Introduction

We know the power of learning, its transformational potential, the insights we gain from entering fully into experience, and the liberation we find when we connect with something true and deeply aligned within ourselves. But how do we measure these learning experiences? What benefit might they bring us? Where might a scientific lens help us understand more about impact, or process? These questions took Aaron Stern into conversation with neuroscientist, Richard Davidson, and led to a year-long collaborative inquiry between the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Academy for the Love of Learning. Out of this relationship arose a wonderfully generative meeting between theory and practice, science and poetry, analysis and emergence – and learning. “Though we were drawn to this work together, we were speaking very different languages. So, we began a rich process of conversation, exploration, and exchange. This required curiosity, vulnerability, and openness, and an ability to put down what we “know” so we could grow together into new understanding.” The attached paper, Poetry of Learning, resulted from our shared inquiry and is a deep dive into our understandings about learning, transformation, and the capacities that support us along the way.

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Contemplative Excersise at the Center for Healthy Minds

® 133 SETON VILLAGE ROAD • SANTA FE, NM 87508 • 505.995.1860 • www.aloveoflearning.org

Contemplative Excersise at the Center for Healthy Minds

® 133 SETON VILLAGE ROAD • SANTA FE, NM 87508 • 505.995.1860 • www.aloveoflearning.org

Richie Davidson & Aaron Stern

Robin Goldman®

Marianne Murray

133 SETON VILLAGE ROAD • SANTA FE, NM 87508 • 505.995.1860 • www.aloveoflearning.org

Executive Summary This article reflects a collaboration that seeks to unpack deeply the nature of transformative learning. It began with an initial dialogue between Aaron Stern and Richie Davidson during a Mind and Life meeting in Mungod, India, sitting together in the extraordinary atmosphere of the one of the largest Tibetan monasteries outside of Tibet and with the Dalai Lama in attendance. During 2017, the Academy for the Love of Learning founded by Aaron and the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin, Madison founded by Richie, entered into a nine-month collaborative experiential inquiry into the question of how to create a scientific, evidence-based means of conceptualizing, measuring and assessing transformational learning. That inquiry has since evolved into the planning and writing of this paper. As co-authors, we (Richie and Aaron, Robin, and Marianne) have endeavored to show the breadth and depth of the territory we covered in our reflections following the joint inquiry and offer suggestions for further exploration. In particular, we propose a set of capacities we deem to be essential for transformational learning and urge that these be given serious consideration as the work of the Academy, and of others exploring the link between transformative learning and wellbeing, proceeds. We begin with the model that informs all of the core work of the Academy. Rather than a closed loop of learning, this model consists of a dynamic and open-ended cycle, or spiral, that reflects on-going growth, while also including the potential for transformational leaps. Learning of this type begins with the supposition that, whether we’re aware of it or not, we are continually immersed in experience. Understanding this, we can bring our intention and discernment to experience as an opportunity for learning. To learn, we then engage in a process of reflection: recognizing intellectually, somatically and emotionally, how we have been impacted by the experience and giving expression to the ways in which we have been affected. Out of reflection emerge insights and the possibility of finding meaning from the experience and the impact. As we reflect and look for understanding and meaning, we may turn to relevant theory, expertise, literature, and other sources of wisdom to inform our process; thus, our learning forges pathways to existing theory and knowledge but is not pre-determined by it. Finally, we consider how to apply what we are learning, trying out and testing insights in relation to new experiences as they arise in our lives. We also share the conviction that humans possess the urge to learn, a learning impulse that drives our exploration of meaning and purpose. Part of this urge to learn is viewing learning as a practice, a practice of ongoing reflection that is deeply rooted in curiosity. This shared understanding led us to propose five capacities that support learning as practice: 1. Embodied awareness — Through awareness of body state and sensations, of thoughts and feelings, of how these are impacted by what we are experiencing, we become active participants in learning and transformation. 2. Connection — This is a capacity of being present within one’s self as well as recognizing and valuing presence in another person, or persons – and/or the environment. 3. Vulnerability/openness — In order to learn, we must be willing to be vulnerable and to unlearn, to let go of knowing, to be open to whatever is arising. 4. Capacity to sit in disorientation — While it is inherently vulnerable to open to what arises, it then also requires the ability to sit in disorientation and discomfort, both physical and psychological when the instinct or impulse is to avoid or fix the discomfort. 5. Discernment — Discernment is the capacity to sense that transformational potential sits in this moment, that the possibility for learning and transformation lives within staying present with an experience.

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Executive Summary These five capacities are interdependent, and integral to our ability to live and act with engaged awareness. The urge to learn is the motivating force that allows or draws a person to cultivate the five capacities and to use them in the service of learning. As we embody them, we open up to the spirit of learning as it moves us, individually and collectively, through life. We suggest that the capacities that constitute a practice of transformational learning, as we have described it above, are precisely the qualities that will serve as effective antidotes to our current state of ill-being and are essential for human flourishing.

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133 SETON VILLAGE ROAD • SANTA FE, NM 87508 • 505.995.1860 • www.aloveoflearning.org